Drive no 4: Glenally Valley - Plumbridge to Draperstown
The Sperrin Mountains stretch crescent-shaped across the counties of Derry and Tyrone.
The main road from Maghera to Derry crosses over their bulk by way of the Glenshane Pass and there's another road which parallels that road and passes over by way of Banagher Forest Nature Reserve.
Glenshane Pass is a busy main road and the other road just mentioned turned out to be disappointing upon investigation, having a row of electricity pylons marching beside it.
But along the southermost side of the Sperrins is Glenally Valley and the B47 which runs through it from Plumbridge to Draperstown, a distance of 32kms, is a cracker.
Plumbridge is on the B48, which runs from Omagh to Derry and is situated at a river crossing.
As we leave the village, heading eastwards, the Sperrins rise gently to the north while Craignamaddy and Barnes Gap are on the southern flank. All the while the Glenally River stays close by the road. There is an overwhelming feeling that this is Ulster heartland with neat farms dotting the gentle slopes.
The road surface itself is good, becoming very good once one has passed the Sperrin Heritage Centre. At times this road is a spectacular roller-coaster ride of hidden dips, crests and rises, twists and turns over innumerable bridges. Despite this it has a natural flow but do beware the sharp corner at Bedony Church (the church is signposted in advance), which is unexpectedly tight and sudden, waiting to catch out the unwary.
Glenally Valley is a landscape formed by the movement of ice long ages ago and there are numerous signs of ancient human habitation in the form of stone age monuments along the route.
One such is the Goles Stone Row, an alignment of eleven individual upright stones, orientated north-south and arranged in a line some 16 metres long. It is believed that they were associated with rituals to observe the rising moon. The Goles Stone Row is situated beside the roadway and clearly signposted near the village of Sperrin.
There is also the Glenroan Portal Tomb which is signposted off this road a short distance from our starting point at Plumbridge.
This is a single chambered megalithic tomb with a dramatic capstone which lies in a fallen position across two portal stones. It dates to between 3,000 and 2,500 BC.
After passing through the village of Sperrin, the landscape becomes more barren and takes on much more of a mountainous aspect, with occasional small forests relieving the eye. Here the rivers are cut deep into the landscape and the evidence of the passage of the Ice Age is even more apparent.
The road now heads south-east towards Lough Neagh and the bulk of Slieve Gallion (528m) before returning north-east again as it begins to fall towards Draperstown. The town takes its name from The Drapers' Company of London, who founded the present town in 1818, its original name being The Cross. It's a pretty town with rows of cut stone houses and marks the end of our passage through Glenally Valley - an unexpected find in an area new to us.